Education

$10 million donation to UCLA's history department aims to support graduate students, faculty and more

A British foundation has contributed $10 million to UCLA’s history department. The Arcadia Fund's gift is the largest in the department’s history.

The money will help support graduate students and faculty. It’ll also help pay for lectures, conferences, and public outreach.

History department chair David Myers said the endowment arrives when the university really needs it.

“We’re at a very critical moment of transition in the history of public higher education and we can no longer depend upon the state to provide substantial support for our institution, the kind of support it has provided in the past. We’re going to have to create partnerships with private individuals and institutions and do so in a way that doesn’t permit us to lose our sense of public mission.”

Myers added that the donation will offer a big boost to teaching and research - and also to the department's efforts to convey the importance of history to a wider audience.

"This gift really makes clear how important it is to impart hisorical knowledge into public debate to create an informed citizenry that can make important decision in elections and in all sorts of other ways."

The Arcadia Fund’s website describes its mission as the protection of endangered culture and nature, including rare artifacts and near-extinct languages.

This isn’t the first time the fund has contributed to UCLA. Three years ago, it gave the university’s library $5-million dollars to help expand its digitization efforts and purchase new material.